A To-Do List

Life has been pretty lazy around here since I'm not working anymore. I worked at an elementary school, and since school ended I'm stuck without a job. Bummer. So I decided that I need a to-do list so I can keep myself busy. And why not make it a CUTE to-do list? So, I found a tutorial on Make It and Love It. I made it, and I love it. It's SO cute and it didn't cost me a dime. I just used an old picture frame, an old framing mat, an old t-shirt, and some scraps of fabric that I had lying around. It was super easy, and now I have a dry erase board that I can put anywhere and still have it look cute.

A First

Well, yesterday I made my first frugal purchase since starting the blog. And I must say, it was quite thrilling! We received a coupon in the mail from JC Penney for $10 off a purchase of $10 or more. Well I jumped right on that! Usually coupons like that say "save $10" in really big print to get you all excited and then they ruin it with "on a purchase of $50 or more." LAME! I don't want to spend $50 to save $10! That's not even a deal! So, JC Penney, I think you're awesome for not doing that.

I went on my way with a goal to not spend more than $10. I was totally successful! I found an adorable pair of maternity shorts--originally $32. What did I pay? $8.13. Yeah. STEAL! The shorts were on sale for $18 - $10 coupon + tax = $8.13. Total savings: $23.87.

Frugal or Bust!

At-Home Take-Out

My husband and I LOVE to eat out. Especially when we were both working, it was easy to say "I'm too tired to cook." Now that I'm home full-time it's a bit easier to plan ahead and take my time making yummy food. This week's at-home take-out was, of course, PIZZA. This is my husband's favorite food. Since we've been married (a little over a year) we've probably made at least 10 pizzas. The finished product usually looks something like this:


(Chicken Alfredo Pizza with homemade dough and alfredo sauce)

The crust is made from scratch with a modified recipe. Here's a basic one for you to enjoy. We added more flour, sugar, oil... but this is a pretty good crust, too :) Experiment with the ingredients to get your perfect pizza crust. This recipe is from cooks.com

Homemade Pizza Dough

pkg. dry yeast
1 c. warm water
3 c. flour
1 tsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. vegetable oil

Dissolve the yeast in warm water. Combine all dry ingredients except flour. Add the yeast dissolved in water and vegetable oil to the mixture. Then add flour by the cup (add 1 cup of flour, mix, add another cup of flour, mix...). I usually add 2 cups to my mixture. Then I turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface and knead the remaining flour into the dough. Cover and let rise until double in size (about 1 hour). Spread dough into 2 pizza pans (or 1 for a thicker crust), add sauce and toppings. Bake at 550 degrees for 7-10 minutes, depending on crust thickness.

Easy peasy, right? In the long run I think we do save a few dollars by not getting our favorite $5 pizza. And this pizza is way better than that take-out stuff. :)